1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation imaging system having a flat panel detector and a console, and a radiation imaging program.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
In a medical field, a radiation imaging system that uses radiation such as X-rays is widely known. The radiation imaging system is constituted of a radiation generation device for applying the radiation to a patient's body part to be examined, and a radiation detection device for detecting the radiation that has passed through the body part. As the radiation detection device, an imaging plate (IP) contained in an IP cassette and a flat panel detector (FPD) are in practical use. The FPD has the advantage that can directly convert the radiation into image data. Moreover, a portable FPD cassette that contains the FPD in a casing of the same shape and size as those of the IP cassette is recently developed to allow loading of the FPD on the conventional radiation imaging system.
For example, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0215892 discloses a radiation imaging system that includes the FPD cassette having a battery and an antenna, and a console for establishing communication with the FPD cassette by radio. In this radiation imaging system, an operating state of the FPD cassette is checked occasionally, at the time of establishing a correspondence between the FPD cassette and the console, at the time of reception of a radiography order by the console, and the like.
In response to the reception of the radiography order, radiography is generally started after precise positioning of the FPD cassette. During preparation for the radiography, the FPD cassette sometimes becomes unavailable due to battery exhaustion or failure caused by electrostatic charge by a touch of a doctor or shock by a drop. In these cases, it is necessary to prohibit application of the radiation and to notify the doctor of unavailability of the FPD cassette, for the purpose of preventing unnecessary exposure of the patient to the radiation.
Also, before the reception of the radiography order, the FPD cassette sometimes becomes unavailable in a like manner due to the battery exhaustion or the failure caused by the electrostatic charge or the shock. In these cases, it is desirable to inform the doctor as soon as possible of unavailability of the FPD cassette, because the FPD cassette needs exchange.
To afford convenience to the doctor, it is conceivable to repeatedly carry out an operation check of the FPD cassette at regular time intervals. However, the operation check requires the FPD cassette to communicate with the console. Consequently, periodic repetition of the operation check causes increase in battery consumption of the FPD cassette, and shortens battery life thereof.